Chapter 4 - Scars

[Intro]

The sun feels so good today, it hasn't rained for a while so Santy has been regularly bringing me outside after I'm done walking on the mat, the clouds are white and beautiful, scattered throughout the sky, "hey there Louis, are you having fun?" Oh!, "Hi Santy, yeah! I was starting to get annoyed being in there all the time, so I appreciate you taking me out here." It's such a great day outside, I'm so happy it's not raining today, "oh yeah, Santy?" "Hm? yeah kiddo, what's up, do you want to go back in?" "no not yet, but I wanted to ask about that girl from yesterday, is she doing ok now?".

Ho Ho, so that's what's on his mind, he's acting timid, I guess the little guys shy, I'll have some fun with him, "hmm, why you want to know, do I you like her?" "n..not really, I just, I was a bit worried about her that's all!" Haha, it's kinda sweet how he cares for others, even if it's just one lost girl, "yeah, she was a bit scared but I helped her back to her room, so she's doing fine,". I see, that's good to hear, "hey Santy!" "What's up?" "Is it ok if we go see her later?" Aww, I'm rooting for you Louis!! "Sure kiddo, I'll take you later after you eat lunch, " it warms my heart, I hope they become friends, "I think it's about time I take you back in".

After lunch, around 6 in the afternoon, Santy was talking to another nurse at the reception desk while I sat close by on a bench waiting for him, when they finished talking, he called me over with a gesturing motion, hoping off, I followed just behind him by a few steps. A couple of minutes of walking later, Santy points towards a private rooms door, the nameplate next to it read "Valerie P. Gerald", I didn't understand what it meant but I liked the name. While deep in thought, I didn't realize that she was standing next to me, "hello there, thank you for helping me yesterday, my name is Valerie, what's yours?" Her voice was loud as her emerald eyes focused on me as she introduced herself.

"I..its nice to meet you, my name is Louis" I replied blushing, I didn't notice them yesterday because it was already night time, but her eyes are really pretty. She approached me with a smile, "Louis, do you want to play together sometime?" I was a bit shocked by her sudden request but it made me happy, "yeah, I'd like to" I answered bashfully, I finally made my first friend here, if my leg wasn't hurt I'd be jumping with joy right now, "I can't wait for tomorrow."

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[Present]

"your lucky Lilith still cares about you..." Louis said, shooting him a glare as he walked out.

So you still haven't forgiven me, I'm glad you' forgotten but I don't have time to worry about you right now.

"what did you do to him? I've next seen a student act like that towards their own parents?" he looked angry but also disappointed, I really want to know what happened for it to end up like this, "not surprising really, it's my fault to begin with, since I was the one who almost killed him".

Hearing what he said shocked me more than I thought but It also made me curious, "how so?!" "It was before.. my wife's funeral" I see, so he doesn't have a mother and dealing with this kind of father, I understand, "so what happened?" "during the birth of my daughter, her body started to become weaker and weaker as time passed" what ever I do, it's never enough, "I had a colleague at the time, who was experimenting to see if it's possible to heal someone by infusing them with a light crystal fragment" I thought I could help her, "from the test results he had, it proved that it was possible but not without risks." it's my fault, "after three years of experiments, we were close to finishing the infusion method, but I was to late".

While I was working, I received a call from Louis but I was to busy to answer, so I ignored it, "on that day after work I was notified that my wife had been hospitalized, apparently her condition worsened because she protected Louis" hm?! "from what?" "a robber broke in to our house, and when he was found took Louis hostage with a knife to his throat"

It was my weakness that everything fell apart, "she fought the intruder trying to protect him, and in a panic he slashed her, hitting her chest, in fear he ran leaving her bleeding on the floor" if only I was there, "with his mother not moving, he called me for help but I never answered, so he went to our neighbour's, who then called the ambulance" "after stabilising her they notified me, so I knew I've ran out of time, I had to do something, so I hurried to the hospital taking with me a crystal fragment and the infusion method, hoping it would save her".

After an hour of darting through traffic, I made my way to the hospital, quickly finding Louis and his sister with Kelly our neighbour on a bench in front of the ICU, Lilith asleep on Louis's lap as he held back tears with puffy red eyes, reassuring him that everything will be fine I went in but the site of her broke me, many tubes were in her, stabilising and keeping her alive.

"Knowing I don't have much time, I worked all through the night to prepare the fragment for infusion" watching over her kept me going, "by the time I noticed the sun rising, I was nearly finished but the heart rate monitor started beeping, showing her heart giving out but with the preparation not complete yet, I started infusing her with the crystal".

"So.., what happened next? did you succeed?" "...I failed, with her weakening heart she wasn't strong enough to handle the proses, which made it worse," it was my fault, with my own hands, I killed my wife, standing over her, I couldn't bring myself to believe that she died, my screams woke up the others outside, rushing in to find me standing there with a piece of the crystal in hand sobbing, they tried to calm me down, but in my blind rage and grief over losing her, I slashed out, hitting Louis with the crystal, imbedding it in his chest but it vanished, only leaving a scar in it's place.

"After what happened, he fell unconscious for five days, so I left him at the hospital to be monitored as I took Lilith home to rest" "with the death of my wife and injuring Louis I couldn't take it anymore but I needed to look after my daughter" a week later the hospital notified me that my wife was ready for the burial and to come and retrieve her body, two days before I was notified Louis woke up not remembering the events of that day but I wasn't ready for what would happen at the funeral. The person I trusted most, would betray me and almost run my son over with his car.

"so not only did I kill my wife and hurt my son, it was my own misplaced trust in my colleague, that nearly got him killed".

[To be Continued]